2 September 2014

Ideas without precedent are generally looked upon with disfavour and men are shocked if their conceptions of an orderly world are challenged. J. Harlem Bretz 1928

26 August 2014

I went down to Grace Plaza a little while ago to try to Photograph a bright flare from Iridium 15.  ISS Detector/Heavens Above were predicting it at magazine -8.4 while CalSky said -7.0.  I don't think it was as bright as some of the recent dimmer flares that I have seen.  I initially set up in the seating area and changed location there because I felt Vega was too close to the Grace building.  Then a minute or two before the flare I removed to the NW corner of the lot and set up by the seating wall.  The flare occurred to the lower right of Vega and was still bright when the satellite went behind the Grace building.  I had considered going to Bryant Park but wasn't shure what time the spotlights up on the MetLife bui-ding get turned on so Grace Plaza seemed a better option.  When Vega became visible I thought about Bryant Park again but thought it was too close to flare time to change horses.  The air felt very humid when I first went outside but I soon got used to it.

ISS Detector

A flash from Iridium 15 will be visible from New York City, on Tuesday, 26 Aug 20:13:53
Visible in the SE (124°)
Elevation: 67°
Brightness: -8.4

20h13m53s

CalSky

Iridium 15
Very bright Flare in TwilightFlare from MMA1 (Right antenna)  
Magnitude=-7.0mag
Azimuth=123.9° SE   altitude= 67.3° 
in constellation Lyra

35 minutes after sunset

The first light that appears in the open sky is Vega.  Iridium 15 appears down near the edge of the building on the right.

25 August 2014

I went down to Pier 13, at least I think it is Pier 13, this morning to try to observe the ISS flying by Saturn. I wasn't able to find Saturn so I didn't see ISS either.

/CalSky graphic

Mobile Observatory graphic

13h05m31.69s

ISS Close to Venus. Separation=0.407°  

Position Angle=135.7°, Position angle vertex=107.5°

Angular diameter=59.0"  size=109.0m x 73.0m x 27.5m

Satellite at Azimuth=215.8° SW   Altitude= 61.8°  Distance=468.5 km

Magnitude=-0.1mag

In a clock-face concept, the satellite will seem to move toward 11:25

Angular Velocity=49.0'/s

Sun elevation=+60°  Elongation from Sun=16°

The sun looked nice though.

24 August 2014

I went up to TotL tonight to see Saturn and Mars. They were OK.
I started off the night with a twilight flare from Iridium 82 at mag -1.6

Flare from solar panels
Magnitude=-1.6mag
Azimuth=144.5° SE altitude= 15.8°
in constellation Sagittarius

I set the camera's elevation based on the setting Manfroto 410's setting circle and zoomed to maximum optical zoom and it was right there.

LightTrac graphic

Next was an ISS pass. It took it a long time to get above the local horizon then I started tracking it but lost it somehow and was tracking something else. When I finally realized the satellite was way over to the left it had already passed it greatest point and Saturn and Mars. Once the satellite set behind the trees I panned back around and may have gotten Saturn and Mars on the end of the video.

The ISS will be visible from New York City, on Sunday, 24 Aug 20:21:07
Starting in the WNW (292°)
Ending in the SSE (154°) at 20:27:21
Maximum elevation: 37°
Brightness: -1.8
Appears 20h18m42s 4.1mag az:299.8° WNW horizon
Culmination 20h23m59s -2.6mag az:223.2° SW h:36.5°
at Meridian 20h25m08s -2.8mag az:180.0° S h:27.2°
Disappears 20h27m38s -1.5mag az:151.7° SSE h:7.1°

LightTrac graphic

I did a little general observing of bright stuff and tried to locate some of the faint fuzzies in Cassiopeia. I found NGC 637 but nothing else.

Mobile Observatory graphic
I tried for the Andromeda Galazy but am not even sure I was looking in Andromeda. The sky seemed very mirky and everything was feeling clammy at that point.

I moved over by the benches near TotL_E for a flare from MetOp B. While waiting for the flare I made some pictures of Saturn and Mars over the Bearsford but doubt that anything will come of them since the shutter speed was 1 second and I was firing the shutter manually not having the forethought to bring my intervalometer.

For MetOp B I set the elevation on the ball head's setting circle and estimated the position as well as I could based on the few stars that were visible and what Mobile Observatory was telling me. I got greedy again and zoomed all the way in and the flare appeared out of frame to upper right. It was very bright and lasted long enough for me to get it into the frame as it was fading. This is the first time that I have successfully observed a MetOp B flare.

Metop B
Bright Flare at nightFlare from fixed mounted left looking ASCAT
Magnitude=-2.5mag
Azimuth=347.6° NNW altitude= 22.9°
in constellation Ursa Major

LightTrac graphic

23 August 2014

Toonight I attended a public observing night on the Intrepid jointly sponsored by the museum and the AAA. The weather wasn't great but was forecast to improve. It did change as the night wore on but not for the better. Only six telescopes were set up. There were a couple more there that were not even unpacked. And as soon as the clouds thickened out of the NE and there were a couple of drops of rain all the tripod legs were collapsed and people ran home. I stuck it out until closing time and actually showed people stars. I found a large open cluster of 12 bright white stars surrounded by a ring of fainter red stars low on the SE horizon.

Image made from Times Square, not on the Intrepid

It was in the constellation Hard Rock Cafe. These were the only stars that were seen tonight.

I guess I am at least an honorary AAAer as I got three glow wands taped to my tripod legs just like the real members did.

I remade my pinhole of the AWACS plane but don't think I had the camera tipped up enough. And I tried one of the SR-71 Blackbird but I think that plane is too big to get it all in from where I have to make the picture even with my extreme wide angle "lens."

19 August 2014

I went up to TotL tonight fr three satellite events that I did not think I would see from Times Square.

At 2047 there was a mag -8.5 (per ISS Detector/Heavens Above, -7.2 per CalSky) flare from Iridium 15 right next to Saif in Cygnus. I can't estimate magnitudes and would not have any frame of reference for something that bright so no matter which magnitude it actually was it was very bright. It flared right about where it was supposed to. I had a false sighting of its approach when cloud movement made it look like Deneb was in motion.

CalSky graphic

At 2106 there was a mag -1.1 (per ISS Detector/Heavens Above) ISS visible pass. It went right past Polaris. My estimate of where it would start was off so so was when it would go into the shadow, and it didn't get as high as I thought it would. But we say it all the way across the sky in spite of clouds of varying densities.

Heavens Above graphic

CalSky had an experimental listing for a MetOp B flare for 2202 at mag -2.6. It was only supposed to be at altitude 20.5° which may be why I didn't see it. That is right around the local horizon and where the atmosphere is the densest. But at -2.6 I would think it would have shown through the clouds. I have tried to observe this satellite on several previous occasions based on the CalSky predictions and have never had success.

CalSky graphic

18 August 2014

I had to go to the library tonight so headed out a little early to catch a bright Iridium flare.

There is a big disparity between the magnitude estimates listed in ISS Finder on my smartphone, which scrapes the date from Heavens Above, and what I find on CalSky. For tonight's event ISS Finder had it listed at mag -7.2 while CalSky said it would be mag -5.9. Either way it was plenty bright. I like using CalSky because it provides information that ISS Finder/Heavens Above does not provide, like the constellation the event will occur in, what surface(s) the flare will originate from and a starfield map so you know exactly where to look of the light pollution isn't too bad to obliterate any nearby stars.

Tonight I sat in Grace Plaza and was able to find Vega nearly oberheat in early twilight. As the sky darkened Deneb(mag 1.2), Sadr (mag 2.2), Gienah (mag 2.5) and δ Cyg (mag 2.8) became visible but I never did see Alberio (mag 3.0) for sure. It seemed to me that the satellite crossed the neck of the swan between η Cyg and Alberio rather than between Sadr and and η Cyg as the star chart indicates. The brightest part of the flare was probably when the satellite appeared to be between Alberio and the fletchings of Sagita, probably about even with the Coathanger.

CalSky graphic